The quality of online instruction and returns to instructor experience

We examine student satisfaction and performance in online versus in-person sections at a large research university in the United States, exploring whether observed gaps are inherent to online instruction or can be mitigated with increased teaching experience. Using administrative data from over 40,000 course sections taught over eight years, we find that students evaluate online courses as worse than in-person courses, despite minimal differences in performance. This gap persists even when restricting the sample to courses taught using both modalities by the same professor in the same semester, and after matching on observable student characteristics. Lower evaluations are primarily driven by student perceptions of instructor availability, concern for students, and the ability to stimulate interest in the course. Although teaching experience improves evaluations in online sections, the gap between modes remains, suggesting fundamental challenges in online instruction beyond technological familiarity.